International – Across the Globe

1. India has sanctioned a soft loan of 340 million US dollars to Nepal for various infrastructure development programmes.

Under this programme Mahalaki bridge and 15 roads will be constructed in various parts of Nepal.

2. India was the world’s largest importer of major arms between 2012–16, accounting for 13 per cent of the global total sales, according to a new data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Saudi Arabia was the world’s second largest arms importer in 2012-16. (Kindly verify, how can both the countries be major arms importer during the same period.)

The United States of America is the leading arms exporter in the world with almost half of its arms exports going to the Middle East.

3. Russia will start initial deliveries of military helicopters to India in 2018.

India and Russia signed an agreement to jointly manufacture 200 of the KA-226T helicopters for the Indian Armed Forces.

Both countries have agreed to cooperate in energy and defence as India seeks to modernize its armed forces.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Sydney on the first visit to Australia by a serving Israeli prime minister.

Netanyahu will start his four-day visit with talks with his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull at his official Sydney address.

Netanyahu and Turnbull will sign agreements on technology and air services.

5. India and China will hold their first Strategic Dialogue in Beijing.

During the meeting, the two sides will discuss key issues of mutual concern and interest, including friction points.

6. Mexico City has the worst daily traffic condition in the world for the second consecutive year and is the most congested city.

The research analyzed the traffic congestion situation in 390 cities in 48 countries.

The research has listed other cities, including Bangkok, Jakarta and Bucharest as the most congested cities in the world.

7. The US and China have agreed on a constructive bilateral relationship to address the threat posed by North Korea due to its repeated ballistic missile tests despite a UN ban.

The two sides agreed on the need to address the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability.

8. The WTO’s trade facilitation agreement, which seeks to ease customs norms, has come into effect with its two-thirds members ratifying the pact.

It will give a boost to the global trade, which has been impacted due to slowdown in the world economy.

9. US President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back Obama’s protection law for transgender students.

The law allowed students to use the bathroom and locker room of their choice in public schools.

10. India has approved a deal with Israel to develop jointly a medium rangesurface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) system for the Army in a Rs17,000-crore deal.

The deal will be executed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).

The systems will be manufactured in India and would have an 80% indigenous content.

11. China for the first time became Germany’s most important trading partner in 2016.

Federal Statistics Office figures showed that German imports from and exports to China rose to 170 billion euros ($180 billion) last year.

12. Pakistan army has launched nationwide military operation ‘Radd-ul-Fasaad’.

The aim is to eliminate terrorists and consolidate gains of its counter-terrorism operations.

Sports & Athletics

1. Legendary Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket.

He had already quit Test and ODI cricket but still skippered the Pakistan Twenty20 team at the 2016 world championships in India.

He played 398 one-day internationals with 8,064 runs, a highest score of 124 while taking 395 wickets with his leg spin.

His Twenty20 international CV saw him play 98 matches with 1,405 runs and a career-leading 97 wickets.

Mohammad Nabi became the first player from Afghanistan to be picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs.30 lakhs.

Rashid Khan was signed by Mumbai Indians for an amount of Rs.4 Crores.

3. Virat Kohli became the first Indian sportsperson to sign a Rs.100 crore deal with Puma.

He is now set to join the likes of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Thierry Henry, among others, as a global ambassador for the brand.

4. India defeated South Africa by one run to win the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2017 at the P. Sara Stadium, Sri Lanka.

South Africa’s Sune Luus is named as the Player of the Series.

India’s Deepti Sharma is the Player of the Match.

5. India’s one day captain Mithali Raj and top batter Harmanpreet Kaur were placed 2nd and 10th in the ICC batswomen’s rankings.

Meg Lanning of Australia leads the charts with 804 points.

Mithali Raj has 733 points and Harmanpreet has 574 points.

6. The first Gramin Khel Mahotsav will be held from 25th to 31st of next month in New Delhi.

The games will be held in five sports disciplines Athletics, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Volley Ball and Wrestling.

It aims to promote sports in rural areas across the country.

7. International Hockey Federation (FIH) awarded the winners Hockey Stars Awards 2016. Here is the list of some of them.

Male Player of the Year 2016- John-John Dohmen (Belgium).

Female Player of the Year 2016- Naomi van As (Netherland).

Male Coach of Year 2016- Danny Kerry (Britain).

Female Coach of Year 2016- Karen Brown (Britain).

Male Umpire of the Year award 2016- Christian Blasch (Germany).

Female Umpire of the Year award 2016- Laurine Delforge (Belgium).

8. The famous Army Polo Championship that commenced on 31 Jan 2017 saw a thrilling final match on 24th February 2017 between 61 CAVALRY and Army Service Corps after tough round of league matches which also saw participation from Corps of Artillery, Remount and Veterinary Corps and Armored Corps.

Army has dominated Equestrian Sports for a long time producing a large number of Asian Games medalists, World Cup players, Padam Shree and Arjuna awardees and is pursuing it as part of its Mission Olympics programme.

9. Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu, who is the first Indian woman athlete has accepted a government job which was offered by the Andhra Pradesh Government following her Rio de Janeiro triumph.

She has been working with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) since 2013 and is currently an assistant manager (sports) at its Hyderabad office.

Awards & Recognition

1. Two Indian films at the world-renowned Berlin Film festival bagged awards – Amit Masurkar’s Newton and Amar Kaushik’s Aaba.

Rajkummar Rao-starrer Newton brought home the CICAE Art Cinema Award in the Forum section of the fest.

Aaba won the Special Prize of Generation KPlus International Jury for Best Short Film.

2. The Ahmedabad-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), has received International Mercury Awards for the year 2016-17.

EDII has received award for the best overall presentation of its 2015-2016 annual report.

It is the world’s first interoperable Quick Response (QR) code acceptance solution developed by the payments industry to expedite India’s transition to a less-cash society.

5. The GST Council approved a bill to compensate States for any loss of revenue due to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This approval by the GST Council paves the way for the roll out of the GST on 1st July 2017.

6. Reserve Bank of India has said that it has no information about the number of bank accounts with large deposits after 8th November 2016

.

These are the bank accounts in which more than Rs. 2.5 lakh in the scrapped currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 were deposited between November 8 and December 30 last year.

7. Debt mutual funds can now invest up to 15 per cent of their total net assets in housing finance companies with Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) easing the regulations in this regard.

The norms have been relaxed as part of efforts to channelize more funds towards affordable housing activities.

8. Vodafone has offered Private Recharge Mode (PRM)- a free of cost service for West Bengal subscribers.

This will enable users to recharge their mobile phones, without sharing their mobile numbers with retailers.

To avail the Vodafone PRM option, a customer needs to send a toll-free SMS – ‘Private’ – to 12604 and would be provided with an OTP.

9. International Monetary Fund said that India’s GDP projected to slow to 6.6% due to demonetization.

This slowdown is largely due to a disruption in private consumption from demonetisation.

It expects growth to rebound to 7.2 per cent in FY18.

10. India and the ADB has signed a $500 million loan pact to expand inter-regional power connectivity in the country, and strengthen transmission system to accommodate renewable energy-generation capacity.

The project is expected to be completed by December 2020.

This will help in building 800 kilovolt (kV) and 320 kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter stations and 765 kV power transmission systems in India.

11. The merger of State Bank of India’s five associate banks with the SBI will become effective from 1st April 2017.

The combined entity will have a network of nearly 23,000 branches, further increasing the dominance of the country’s largest bank.

12. Sovereign Gold Bonds 2016-17 fourth series will be open for subscription from February 27, 2017 to March 03, 2017.

The bonds will be denominated in units of one gram of gold and multiples thereof and be available in both the demat and paper form.

Minimum investment in the bonds shall be one gram with a maximum limit of subscription of five hundred grams per person per fiscal year.

Bills – New & Amendments

1. Jammu & Kashmir government has imposed restrictions on the number of guests at weddings and small functions like social and government functions.

This is done to curb misuse of resources and essential commodities.

The order that will come into force on 1st April 2017 restricts the number of guests at the bride’s place during the marriage ceremony to 500.

The number of guests at the groom’s place is restricted to 400 and the number of guests at smaller functions like engagement among others has been restricted to 100.

2. The Gujarat Assembly has passed Gujarat Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2017.

The bill seeks to empower the state government to use Aadhaar number as the sole identifier for the delivery of various subsidies and benefits in an effective and targeted manner.

This will help the state government create a credible system to authenticate the identity of actual beneficiaries.

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